Healthier Information Ecosystems: Strategies for Health Philanthropy
Our information environment is transforming—including the places and people who help us make decisions about our health. Those health information ecosystems are fragmented; filled with information from a wide range of expertise and sources; and platform algorithms exert tremendous and unseen control over what messages are seen, shared, and amplified. These changes have many of our traditional health information sources racing to learn new skills to ensure they remain trusted and relevant.
Beyond Innovation: How Philanthropy Can Strengthen Systems to Improve Rural Health Outcomes
Sometimes innovation in philanthropy is associated with breakthrough technologies or new medical discoveries. But some of the most impactful investments fund something less visible: the coordination of people, protocols, and institutions already in place so they work together seamlessly to save lives.
A Philanthropic Tree of Life: Seeding Health Equity through Influence and Innovation
Philanthropy can function as a living ecosystem for change rooted in equity, nourished by trust, and bearing the fruits of community well-being. The Direct Relief Fund for Health Equity (DRFHE), launched with $50 million in initial investments, exemplifies a transformative philanthropic model supporting nearly 200 community-based organizations across the United States. Acknowledging DRFHE as a “Tree of Life” offers a framework grounded in community-led, trust-based, and unrestricted giving that challenges traditional philanthropic paradigms. Therefore, this article describes the fund’s origins, strategic priorities, and outcomes, and introduces the DRFHE Tree of Life framework as a replicable model for equity-driven philanthropy.
GIH Health Policy Update Newsletter
The Latest
An Exclusive Resource for Funding Partners
The Health Policy Update is a newsletter produced in collaboration with Leavitt Partners and Trust for America’s Health. Drawing on GIH’s policy priorities outlined in our policy agenda and our strategic objective of increasing our policy and advocacy presence, the Health Policy Update provides GIH Funding Partners with a range of federal health policy news.
Gail Christopher to Be Honored with Terrance Keenan Award
Gail Christopher, Vice President for Policy and Senior Advisor at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, will receive GIH’s 2015 Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health Philanthropy.
Building the Evidence: Investing in Research Supporting the Need for Healthy and Active Schools
Those leading our education system today face an enormous amount of pressure, from funding issues to curriculum changes, from absenteeism to state assessment scores. With so much to consider and so much to fit into each school day, leaders are often forced to make decisions that de-prioritize an important aspect of a child’s development: physical activity. Following discussions with numerous stakeholders, the Kansas Health Foundation found that a critical missing piece in making the case for the importance of physical activity at school was timely, state-specific data linking student fitness and academics.
GIH Announces New Board Members
Antony Chiang, Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, Garth Graham, and Brenda Sharpe have been elected to its board of directors. Their terms begin immediately after the GIH annual conference in March.
Demonstrating Behavioral Health Impact Using Intensive Community-Based Services
Individuals experiencing an acute episode of mental illness often face challenges navigating a fragmented health care delivery system and overcoming barriers to access appropriate medical and mental health services.
What We Learned from the First Open Enrollment Period, and What to Expect from the Second
As work gets rolling for the second open enrollment period, it is an opportune time to reflect on lessons learned from the first open enrollment period, especially since the second one is shorter and there are fewer navigator resources available from the federal government.
Starting Early: Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood
In late 2009 The Boston Foundation shifted its health grantmaking focus from access to prevention in order to address the rising tide of preventable chronic illness and the escalating health care costs stemming from the obesity epidemic.